


Tidings

by Rod



Category: Lord of the Rings - Fandom
Genre: Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-04
Updated: 2013-02-04
Packaged: 2017-11-28 05:59:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/671078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rod/pseuds/Rod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In his old age, Sam stands by the ocean and wonders.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tidings

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Tolkien thought them up long before I was born.

He stood on the rocks looking out to sea, never so much as glancing back to the land. Why should he? He had given it the best years of his life, but it had no more claim on him. His wife, his beautiful Rose was gone, and now in his own way it was his turn to depart.

Eyes no longer as bright as they had been stared at the horizon, hoping for some impossible hint of what waited for him in the West. Would he still care? Would he still be there, even? Would he forgive him for staying behind, for letting himself get bound into the world?

A silly question, and he'd known the answer ever since he'd received word from the Havens that a ship awaited him. That didn't stop him worrying, though. It had hurt to stay behind, but he'd always been the practical one and there had been so much to put right. Their ways had simply parted for while, that's what his friends told him, but they would always come back together. When had those two grinning idiots become so wise, he wondered?

Old bones protested at standing there in the brisk wind, but he could not bring himself to move just yet. To move, to truly start this final journey, that would finally make this real. For all that he had done in his youth, this was a greater step than any he'd taken. This journey's end would not see him settled in his own armchair, puffing on his own pipe. Was it greedy of him to want both home and heart?

"Master Gamgee." The ageless voice had not changed in the decades since he had first heard it, though perhaps he now understood its calm patience better. So hard for him then to be patient when everything was so new; so hard now to hurry when he had seen so much.

"A few moments more?" His voice sounded weak, choked with emotion. Whether it was fear or hope he couldn't say.

His old friend understood, laying a hand gently on his shoulder. "The tide is turning," he said gently, "and we should sail with it. The home of your heart is waiting for you, needing you, as he always has."

A vision of startling blue eyes assailed him then, eyes that had seen too much even when they were young. Eyes that needed him for even the Undying Lands to be truly home.

He turned, finally, smiling at the elf. "And I dare say Gimli has things to say about elderly hobbits keeping dwarves ship-bound any longer than they have to."

Legolas smiled back, lending his arm to help elderly legs make it back to the wharf. "He has made one or two remarks on the subject," he agreed. "Best not to keep him waiting."

No, Sam thought, best not to keep any of them waiting any more. The tides of his life had kept him from Frodo long enough. It was time for them to sweep him home.


End file.
